The Kraxon, a Galor-class Cardassian cruiser that helped keep the Defiant safe from the Obsidian Order when it was hijacked by Thomas Riker and the Maquis. She keeps the aesthetically pleasing yellow and brown paint scheme of most Cardassian ships. What a beautiful color! Costing $15, she comes with the model, a base and stand, 2 token sheets, and 10 cards. Is she worth it, or should you keep this eyesore in your space dock?

Here is a picture of what you get in the set thanks to capnginger

And here is a picture of the ship thanks to capnginger

The Kraxon costs you 26 points and has the evade, target lock, and scan actions. Her ability lets you transfer damage applied to any friendly ship at range 1 to your shields, if possible. She has 4 attack, 1 evade, 4 hull, and 4 shields, with a 180 degree firing arc (drool)! She also has 1 crew,1 weapons, and 2 tech upgrade slots. Her maneuver dial is 1-5 straight (with 1-2 green), banks at 1-3 (with 1 green), and red turns at 2-3. The generic loses 1 shield and 1 tech upgrade slot. There is a lot to like here- The generic Galor is a beast with a 180 firing arc and some serious health. The Galor has the problem of most of the Dominion fleet options in that it turns like a boat, and then some. Seriously. You’re going to need that 180 arc since you will be going ever so daintily around your enemies while they probably drive a circle around you. Having red turns does help, but don’t get in a protracted battle of maneuvers against a smaller opponent or you will probably lose, though adding an aft weapons array or a dorsal weapons array will help some with that. I also miss the battlestations action. It is just so darn useful! However, if this ship had the battlestations action it would be way, way, way too good for 24 points and could seriously dominate everything on the battlefield. This was an acceptable trade, and not having the action doesn’t mean you won’t have access to it, it just makes it a bit harder to work it out.The Kraxon itself is a great ship to protect your flagship if you want to invest some points into shield repair for it, and works great as a support ship because of this. If you want a support ship that can deliver, pick the Kraxon and make sure you put someone on who can keep those shields up! A Kraxon protecting a cloaked Keldon is a fierce combo, and while your enemies turn their focus to the Kraxon to kill you the Keldon can dish out the pain. This is a great combo that is still incredibly useful at any stage of the game.

There are 3 captains in this set. The generic, Gul Ranor, and Gul Danar. Gul Ranor costs 3 points and has the action ability of gaining an auxiliary power token to perform an additional 1 or 2 straight maneuver. You get the token after the maneuver. This is a great race ability, or a great ability to keep you safe if you are in a stern chase, but the fact that it is only a staright makes it limited. If it was a bank I would love this captain for my Cardassian fleets. A straight? Meh. I can already do a 5 straight, and most of the time I can’t shoot someone because they aren’t at the right firing arc not because I am just out of range from them. He is useful but not insane, and has a spot in the right fleet or on a ship that has less straight maneuvers available, but isn’t a great fit for any of the Galor or Keldon class ships.

Gul Danar costs 2 points and has 3 skill. When you are attacking you can reroll 1 blank result. Not a crazy ability, not a bad ability. It’s not a guaranteed hit or anything, but having the chance to change a blank is always great. There are better captains out there, but he is cheap for what he does and is better than a generic. He’s at least worth a look on a smaller ship that has fewer attack dice to begin with and his low cost is a steal of a deal.

There are 1 crew and 1 upgrade in this expansion. The crew is Glinn Telle who costs 3 points. He has the action ability of discarding this card to target a ship in your forward firing arc within range 1-3. That ship rolls -2 attack dice this round. While I wish he was only 2 points, you can get some use out of Glinn. He can be used to keep your ship or another friendly ship alive, or to negate a close range attack, or many other abilities. I like him, and usually at least consider him for a Cardassian fleet. Be warned that he can be used against you by opponents who can steal the actions from your ships, and he can target one of your ships to really mess up your day. Also, when he is placed on a Galor or Keldon his ability is a lot more useful since you have the 180 degree forward firing arc to mess around with instead of the 90 degree one.

The weapons upgrade is Forward Weapons Array. Costing 5 points, it has 5 attack dice at range 1-3. You disable this upgrade to target 2 different ships and divvy up the 5 dice between the two ships. You must roll at least 1 die against each ship. This is an ok card. There are better options out there. If you know you are going up against a fighter or swarm fleet this is a viable option, but going up against a smaller, larger hulled fleet I would rather guarantee a kill against a capital ship then try to split up against 2 ships and maybe leave them both alive. I pass on this card unless I know I am going to be facing a swarm of 4-6 22 point or lower cost ships.

There are two tech upgrades. Antiproton Scan costs 4 points and if you have a scan token next to your ship you get +1 die on attacks against ships with no shields. This is a great tech upgrade to rip through ships no matter what the size, and taking the scan ability each turn means less evades which means your +1 die has a better chance of killing the enemy. I use this frequently, and the +1 attack die has no limit so it combos with Forward Weapons Array or other upgrades that target multiple ships (like the Koranak). I usually wield this in my Cardassian fleets because it is useful and really helps rip through ships that have no shields. Also the fact that it is an always-on ability is super helpful as well.

EM Pulse costs 4 points and is an action disable to target a ship at range 1-2. They roll 1 less attack and defense die this round. A useful ability against any ship, I usually put this in a support vessel in my Cardassian fleet to help take down flagships, smaller vessels, and anything in between. You can’t go wrong with causing them to roll less dice, and even though it is action heavy (action to use, action to rearm) you can use it in the initial rush, rearm it later, and use it again in the 2nd rush when everyone is damaged and limping. I really like this upgrade and the only real downside to it is that it can target any ship, so watch out for opponents stealing it for a turn and using it on you. That is really not fun.

Final Thoughts:There is a lot to like in the Kraxon. The generic Galor is incredible, and the Kraxon is an amazing support ship. If given the right upgrades, she can keep your ships going a lot longer in a fight which is huge. There are some solid tech upgrades as well, and the crew is also solid. I recommend getting 1. There’s no need to have multiple since everything in here is unique or really only good on one ship, and if you want to run a 3 vessel Galor fleet you’re really going to want a second Reklar for their weapons upgrades. This is a great one only ship, and provides a support vessel with some solid cards, an amazing generic ship, and really brings the pain to your opponents while letting you stay alive long enough to finish the fight. That’s a great combo and this is a definite staple ship in any Cardassian or Dominion fleet.